Last



Patented July 28, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFl CE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to lasts.

The usual form of last, upon which the spring heel type of shoe isbuilt, has an undersurface which when laid upon a fiat surface willcontact with said fiat surface at substantially two points, that is, apoint on the heel and a point adjacent the center of the fore part ofthe last so that when this last is placed upon the surface it willcontinue to rock for a short period and shoes built upon such lasts willnot give the proper balance to the foot since such shoe when placed upona flat surface will also tend to rock in a manner similar to the last.

In normal action the human foot is presented -to the ground bycontacting at the outer border of the heel, the same serving as thefirst shock absorber. The body weight is then carried forwardly alongthe outer border of the'foot through the small outer arch to the base ofthe fifth toe and then inwardly across the ball of the foot to 2 thebase of the first or large toe, thus forming three points ofweight-bearing pressure, namely,

the heel, the base of the fifth toe, and the base of the first toe. Atthis point the foot has completely absorbed the shock and the toes arereadiness for the act of carrying the body forward for the next step.However, when the foot is at rest and the body in a standing position,the inner .ankle articulation will in the majority of cases roll in,causing an inward pronation at the inner ankle and foot joint and if notcorrected will eventually break down the inner longitudinal arch throughconstant strain at that point since nature has not given the properprotection to overcome the cruel punishment to the foot caused bycontacting with hard unyielding pavements. To overcome this conditionthe shoe manufacturers and others have used wedges and foot appliancesto lift the weight away from the inside longitudinal arch but by sodoing they have transferred this weight to the outside, giving reliefonly at the inner longitudinal arch but causing strain to the outside ofthe arch because the balance of the heel and the shoe is not made toaccommodate extreme outward pressure and after a few weeks of servicethe entire shoe shows an outward run-down appearance.

In the full square-breasted heel the normal action as the foot contactswith the ground is destroyed by reason of the fact that the heel iselevated just as much at the outer border as it is at the inner border.Furthermore, in these types of shoes in which the sole and heel are ofseparate construction there is an elevated space at the arch that doesnot touch the ground from the outer corner of the breast of the heel tothe base of the fifth toe so that the natural Weight distribution fromthese two points is destroyed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a last for buildingshoes which will have the combined qualities of the spring and breastheel so that the foot will be maintained in a perfect balance whenapplied to a flat surface.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a last for buildinga shoe in which the last has a slightly convex outside arch portion anda concave inner longitudinal arch terminating at the rear in a breastface of the heel with the breast face decreasing in height from theinner longitudinal arch to a point adjacent the convex outside portionof the arch with the heel adjacent the outside being in substantiallythe same plane with the convex portion of the arch and with a point inthe under-surface of the last 20 which is adjacent the base of the firsttoe of the foot so that when shoes are made from such lasts the footwill be normally supported along the outside to the base of the fifthtoe and at the base of the first toe, the undersurface of the lastsimulating in effect the natural application of the foot to a flatsurface.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a last for themanufacture of a shoe which will have a combination spring and breast 3oheel for supporting the foot normally on a flat surface wherein thecontacting points of the heel, the outside portion of the foot at thearch, and at the base of the fifth toe will be in substantially the sameplane as will he points a-djacent the base of the first toe, the last inthis instance containing a drop face at the breast of the heel whichdecreases in height from the inner longitudinal concaved arch to a pointadjacent a medial line running through the sole of the last and wherethe arch portion at the outside is convexed, the convexed portion of thearch of the last being in substantially a plane which passes through thelowermost part of the heel, through points on the fore portion of thelast which are adjacent the base of the fifth toe and also the base ofthe first toe.

invention will be best understood from a consideration of the followingdetailed 'descrip- 50 tion, in view of the accompanying drawing forminga part of the specification; nevertheless, it is to be understood thatthe invention is not -con fined to the disclosure, being susceptible ofsuch changes and modifications as define no material departure from thesalient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a last constructed in accordance withthe principles of my invention,

Figure 2 is a longitudinal inside view in elevation of the last,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary transverse section taken along the line 3-3 ofFigure 2,"

Figure 4 is a fragmentary transverse section taken along the line 44 ofFigure 2.

Figure 5 is a transverse section taken along the.

line 5-5 of Figure 2,

Figure 6 is a transverse section taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 2,and j j Figure 7 is a fragmentary. longitudinal outside view of thelast.

Referring more particularly to the drawing it will be seen that the lastis of the block type although the last may be of "the hinge' o'r anyother type and is composed of a heel portion If), a shank portion H anda fore portion 12. The last is also provided with a removable instepportion l3 of the well known type. r

The heel portion ID is provided with a heel seat plate l4 having theusual insole tack aper-' ture 15. This plate has its sides andrear edgesconforming'to the periphery of the heel;

The forward edge l6 of the plate terminates caved as shown in Figs. 1, 2and 5 and represents the arch of a normal foot. This concave portionextends inwardly from the inner side face of the last to pointsalong amedial line and terminates at the drop face I! at the rear and'at thebase 2| of the first toe in the fore part. r

The outside longitudinal arch l8 is slightly convex but not'sulficiently to cause it to extend beyond a plane which passes-throughthe'lowermost point of the heel plate and a point adjacent the base ofthe first toe so thatsuch points will be in substantially the same planeand will contact with a fiat surface when the last is applied thereto.The slightly convex portion l8 at the outside longitudinal archrepresents a normal position of the foot at the outside so that part ofthe foot when applied to a fiat surface will rest upon such surface. i r

As shown moreparticularly in Figs. 4 and 5 it will be seen that theinside longitudinal arch from the central portion-is curved outwardlytowards the fore portion and the heel portion and the concavitygradually decreases as shownv at ZG inFigA. j I I 1 r The undersurfaceof the fore: portion of the last is inclined upwardly from the flatsurface as shownat 25in Fig.2 and is inclined laterally toward theoutside portion as shown at 26 in Fig.

- 6. Frornapoint,indicatedat .21 in Fig. 6 the undersurface is curvedslightly upwardly, as shown at 28;: The point 21 on the underface of thefore portion of the last is adapted to contact with the flat surfacerepresented by the numeral 30 and is adjacent the base of the first toe.Thus it will be seen that when the last is applied to the at a pointlocated substantially between the base of the first and fifth toe on theundersurface of the fore portion of the last so that such a last 15 willrock and a shoe constructed on the last will have the same defect. Inthe present instance, however, a shoe constructed on the last describedherein will remain in fiat contact with the surface and thus will beretained against rocking.

A shoe constructed onthis type of last overcomes many dis-advantages ofthe square-breasted heel and the spring heel since it forms acombination of the best qualities of both due to the fact that'thesquare-breasted heel supports the foot adjacent the innerlongitudinalarch while the outside longitudinal arch of the foo-t is supported alongthe lines of the spring heel because the outside portion of the foot isnormally supported in a line with the heel at the outside and 30 also inline with the base of the fifth toe and also in the same plane with thebase of the first toe. The combination heel thus formed on the type oflast described herein does not disturb the heel fiexion along theoutside border of the shoe 35" since it will allow the entire outerborder of the foot to rest naturally along the ground surface from theheel to the base of the fifth toe.

The heel allows the shank portion of the sole to be stitched as high upunder the inner arch as the maker considers necessary without changingthe balance of the heel itself. The combination further permits theinside borderof the heel to be twisted or wedged to balance the insidefront part of the heel of the foot without changing the tread-of theshoe along the outside border or the tread of the sole along the insideborder.

I claim 1. A last having fore, shank and heel portions, the undersurfaceof the shank at the outer side of the arch being in substantially thesame plane of the heel, the inner longitudinal arch being concaved andterminating at the rear in a breast face of the heel, said breast facebeing gradually reduced in height from the inner side to a point wherethe undersurface of the shank merges into the plane of the heel.

2. A last having fore, shank and heel portions, the undersurface of theshank at the outside of the arch being in substantially the same planewith the heel, the inner longitudinal arch being concaved andterminating at the rear in a drop face at the breast of the heel, saiddrop face being gradually reduced in height as it approaches a medialline running longitudinally of the under- 5 surface.

3. A last having fore, shank and heel portions, the undersurface of theshank adjacent the outside being slightly convexed and merging in thesame plane with the undersurface of the heel'adjacent the outside, adrop face being provided at points where the heel joins the innerlongitudinal arch, said'drop face being gradually reduced in height fromthe inside of the shank to the'convex portion of said shank, the innerlongitudinal arch being concaved, said concave portion extending to theconvex portion and terminating at the rear in the drop face.

4. A last having fore, shank and heel portions, the undersurface of theshank at the outer side of the arch being in substantially the sameplane of the heel, the inner longitudinal arch being concaved, the heelportion having a drop face which is gradually reduced in height from theinner longitudinal arch to a point approximately midway of the breast ofthe heel where it merges into the. plane of the outside of the arch, theundersurface of the forepart being cut away to provide a surface whichis inclined upwardly and outwardly from the shank with the portion ofthe surface adjacent the base of the large toe being in the plane of theoutside arch and the heel.

5. A last having fore, shank and heel portions, the undersurface of theshank at the outer side of the arch being in substantially the sameplane of the heel, a drop face being provided at points where the heeljoins the inner longitudinal arch, said drop face being graduallyreduced in height to a point adjacent a medial line of the last, theunderface of the fore portion being cut away on an upward inclineleaving the base of the big toe in a plane with the outside arch and theheel portion.

6. A last having fore, shank and heel portions, the undersurface of theshank at the outside of the arch, the section of the undersurface of theheel and a section of the undersurface of the fore portion being insubstantially the same plane so that when the last is placed upon a flatsurface said last will be balanced against rocking movement, the heel atthe breast having a drop face which gradually decreases in height fromthe inside longitudinal arch to a point adjacent the center of thebreast.

HAROLD CHASE KIMBALL.

